Crash boxes are employed with motor vehicles for increasing the safety. In addition, damages to the body structure of the vehicle can be reduced in the event of accidents at low speed through the use of these crash boxes. To this end, the crash boxes are designed as deformation bodies which are so installed in the motor vehicle that in the event of an impact of the motor vehicle against an obstacle they partially absorb the occurring impact energy through their deformation. Because of this, the crash boxes prevent the transmission of the impact energy to the body structure, particularly to the two vehicle side members and can thus reduce or entirely prevent that these are damaged.
Such a vehicle front structure with crash boxes is known from the publication US 2009/0200811 A1. In this regard, the known motor vehicle front structure comprises a bumper system with a transverse bumper component that is arranged on a stiff frame, a yielding bumper envelope, a compressible structure, which is arranged between an upper region of the envelope and the transverse bumper component and a support section supporting in the lower region of the envelope, which together with a crash box, which supports the transverse bumper component, is fixed on an anchor plate of the stiff frame.
Such a known motor vehicle front structure is shown in a schematic perspective view in FIG. 6. With this prior art, crash boxes 4 and 5, which are connected via an impact cross member 9, are arranged on two vehicle side members 2 and 3 of a vehicle front frame 1 via an anchor plate 37 at the front ends 6 and 7 of the vehicle side members 2 and 3.
Such a motor vehicle front structure has the disadvantage of a relatively extended overhang because of the extended crash boxes. Apart from this, these crash boxes offer energy absorption in the event of a frontal impact but this energy absorption is significantly reduced when the impact has a lateral component since the crash boxes are then merely subjected to shearing stress load and are bent laterally without major energy absorption.
In view of the foregoing, at least one object is to state a motor vehicle front structure which with safety characteristics that remain the same, particularly in the case of accidents at low speed, has an improved and shortened construction and a reduced weight. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.